Elements of Civil Government eBook

THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

The Senate is composed of two senators from each State,
elected by direct vote of the people;[1] and therefore
each State has an equal representation, without regard
to its area or the number of its people.

The term of a United States senator is six years,
and one third of the Senate is elected every two years.

A senator must be thirty years old, for nine years
a citizen of the United States, and must be an inhabitant
of the State for which he shall be chosen.

A vacancy which occurs in any State’s representation
in the United States Senate is filled by an election
for the unexpired term; but the legislature of any
State may empower the governor to make temporary appointments
until such election is held.

The Vice President of the United States is ex officio
president of the Senate, but has no vote except when
the Senate is equally divided upon a question.
The Senate elects its other officers, including a
president pro tempore, or temporary president,
who presides when the Vice President is absent.

The Senate is a continuous body; that is, it is always
organized, and when it meets it may proceed at once
to business.

When the House of Representatives impeaches an officer
of the United States, the impeachment is tried before
the Senate sitting as a court.

The Senate has the sole power to try impeachments,
and it requires two thirds of the senators present
to convict. Judgment in cases of impeachment
shall not extend further than to removal from office,
and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office
of honor, trust, or profit under the United States;
but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable
and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment
according to law.

All treaties made by the President of the United States
with foreign countries must be laid before the Senate
for ratification. If two thirds of the Senate
vote for the treaty, it is ratified; otherwise, it
is rejected.

Treaties are compacts or contracts between two or
more nations made with a view to the public welfare
of each, and are usually formed by agents or commissioners
appointed by the respective governments of the countries
concerned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House of Representatives, often called the lower
House of Congress, is a much larger body than the
Senate. The last apportionment of representatives,
made in 1911, gave the House four hundred and thirty-five
members, and this went into effect with the Sixty-third
Congress, beginning on the 4th of March, 1913.

A census of the people is made every ten years, and
upon this as a basis Congress fixes the number of
representatives for the entire country, and the number
to which each State shall be entitled for the next
ten years thereafter. Each legislature divides
the State into as many Congress districts as the State
is entitled to representatives, and each district
elects a representative by direct vote of the people.